Stephen Winer

Remembering Walter Koenig.

John Goodman on W. C. Fields and Oliver Hardy from The New Yorker Interview:

Ma and Pa Kettle on The Road

I saw somewhere that there is a story involving Mike Love and elder abuse. Which raises the question “which elders was he abusing?”

I had a great time on Saturday at the Mark O’Donell Theatre for Tom Gammill’s funny and moving play A MORNING WITH ERNIE BUSHMILLER about the NANCY comic creator. Beyond the pleasure of the show it was a chance to reunite with old Letterman friends- some, like Paul Shaffer, I haven’t seen in years.

Written by AI -Asshole Intelligence.

When the Paley Center showed the previously lost kinescope of Horton Foote’s THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL, Eva Marie Saint, who co-starred with Lillian Gish, introduced it. As classy and elegant in person as she was on the screen, she spent most of the introduction praising the play and Miss Gish.

Happy Birthday to the greatest comic artist in the history of film: Buster Keaton! (I had a poster of this image in my room from childhood until I was in my twenties.)

Today is the birthday of Groucho Marx, Bud Abbott and Spanky MacFarland. That’s a lot of funny for one day.

IYKYK

For #NationalSilentMovieDay, may I recommend Harold Lloyd’s hilarious THE FRESHMAN, available in this great Criterion edition for which I wrote the booklet essay? You can also see it on The Criterion Channel and read my essay at the Criterion Current.

Memo to Karl Rove: When you leave the door wide open, you don’t get to choose who walks through it.

He’s back at the UN!

Today is the birthday of the great animation director Chuck Jones. I was lucky enough to know him slightly. One of the nicest things that can happen to you is that you meet your idols and find that they are everything you hope they'd be. Chuck Jones was all that and more.

Doesn’t it seem like Batman Day comes earlier every year?

Watched the video from Congress today and, frankly, Mitch McConnell has never looked better!

I’m not opening for Ed Sheeran either. Not that they asked.

It’s the birthday of one of America’s greatest humorists, who also became a first rate comic actor in movies, Robert Benchley!

Wow! Wherever you look on social media, absolutely everyone is not talking about the Emmys!

The RNC doing their bit to create new and better atheists.

This photo of Dyckman Street in Manhattan in 1933 shows an amazing program at the Loew’s Paradise in the Bronx. The feature is John Ford’s FLESH starring Wallace Beery and the live show features- wait for it - Burns and Allen, the Ritz Brothers and Edgar Bergen. If only my TARDIS wasn’t in the shop!

I imagine Bill Maher will have something pithy to say about Gloria Steinem this week. (I might be spelling “pithy” wrong.)

Now that I’ve got your attention, it’s Joan Blondell ‘s birthday! If you happen to have a print of CONVENTION CITY gathering dust in your closet, could you please walk it over to the Library of Congress? There might be some interest.

Bill Maher is the Mike Love of Comedy.

Don’t worry, Bill. When you die, there’ll be all the time in the world for the other news.

For Jack Kirby’s birthday, here is his excellent portrait of Rudy Giuliani.

How about The Kennedy Parton Center? Does that work?

This letter from 2020 featuring Natalie Harp turned up in my Facebook memories. It’s from Jimmy Stewart’s daughter and it shows how, even at that tender age, Natalie was already making friends.

variety.com/2026/film/ob... turns out the next 80 year old was not the one we hoped for either. There are worse things to say about an actor than “He was known for creating an iconic character” but Curry was a gifted and versatile actor who was always a pleasure to watch on film or on stage.

Today is the birthday of Walt Kelly, the creator of POGO and so much more. Not just one of our best comic strip artists, he was truly one of the greatest of all American humorists!

Today Hakim Jeffries met with Jared Kushner to discuss the future if Democrats take back the House, so if you thought that ANYBODY would do ANYTHING about ANY OF THIS after the election, you have your answer!

The only Harp I want to see in the White House.

cordcuttersnews.com/after-71-yea... About time! I’m still waiting for my freaking Connie Francis album!

“I am dead…” “…You are not…” “…Inside…” “…yes…” (translated from the Swedish)

On the bright side, you know they’ll forget to take their gloves off during rest room breaks.

Happy International Cat Day!

So 44 years ago, I wrote a joke that required David Letterman to throw a pencil through a window. And 44 years later Matt Solomon wrote about it! latenighter.com/features/ori...

George Burns always said today’s birthday girl Gracie Allen was an actress not a comic. Her character worked because she said her crazy lines with absolute conviction.

Sure. They cancel the show and NOW you do the promo!

Today is the 105th birthday of Calvert DeForest, a man whose career I had what I will politely call a slight influence on. Here is the complete collection of Melman Bus Line ads (all the ones featuring Calvert written by Karl Tiedemann and myself.)https://youtube.com/watch?v=Vzu9ddkluw4

Quick thinking having a tablecloth handy. I didn’t even notice the twitching from that dead robot.

So we’re being told not to eat fruits and vegetables and avoid excessive exercise outdoors. I’ve never felt so ahead of the curve in my life.

The book was better.

Finally figured out who these rants reminded me of:

Next Year’s Mark Twain Award winner:

Art Carney in HOUSE CALLS [At burial service] Dr. Willoughby: Throughout history, all great innovators were never really appreciated until they were dead. You're dead now Harry... an' we appreciate it!